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#Rehab

They come in air-conditioned SUV’s with a small slain forest adorning dashboards & consoles. They are seated on the skins of a herd of dead cows. Their SUV’s guzzle up precious fossil fuels and emit poisonous fumes.

From the indulgent comfort of their cocooned existence, they observe the damage unscrupulous miners are causing to a barren desert well out of the public eye. It offends them that people can be so greedy and selfish to want to make an easy living by digging up minerals where nothing grows, in temperatures upward of 40°C. Of course, they take photos and post these on social media. They lobby and have mining rehabilitation laws implemented. Huge sums of donations are gathered to promote their act of saving the planet from these ridiculous miners who have nothing to do other than to deface an unsightly, rocky desert where nothing grows.

Not even food to eat, that is.

So they return home to further wage war against men earning an honest living by the sweat of their brow. To burden mothers trying to get some grub on the plates of their children, most of whom had never seen lush, green vegetation.

So they return home and drive into automated garages because it is below them to get out and lift a door. In their comfortable homes, they indulge in excessive lifestyles. Too much of this, too plenty of that. In restaurants, they order more meat per person than some miners have to eat in many months. They then return it untouched as they are a corrupt and spoilt elitist generation.

So they do not switch off lights or appliances when leaving a room. Too much effort, electricity is cheap when one is too rich.

So they build too large houses, costing too much money. These are set against high cliffs. Cut deep into mountainsides to feed their indulgence. Defacing nature, causing irreparable damage.

So they pushed the ocean back and built an entire city on the former ocean floor. High-rise buildings interrupt views of one of the world’s new seven wonders.

Natural forest is removed to plant vineyards, as if alcoholism isn’t already a social crisis.

So they live their indulgent lifestyle while pointing fingers at those toiling in almost inhumane conditions to earn a living.

As I stroll past their excess and see the sheer indulgences, I cannot but help to wonder when they will start rehabilitating Cape Town’s natural beauty, restore the ocean to its rightful place, free Fresnaye, Clifton and Constantia from their invasive activities.

If miners must rehabilitate desert wasteland, so should city dwellers. We cannot have one rule for Jack and another for John.

Who does it hurt when a few rocks get upturned out in a desert where nobody sees, except those hypocrites who indulge in the luxury of a wealthy lifestyle affording them the privilege to trample across the land worked by others?